Sunday, 29 July 2018

Microsoft Skype Update, End to End Encryption is Now Available

Microsoft Skype is a software application with a specialization in voice and video chats. Skype has more than 300 million users worldwide and is one of the most popular chat platforms. Microsoft is actively working on the enhancement of its product and recently announced one of the biggest updates for skype security until now.

On Thursday, Microsoft announced that Skype will now introduce end-to-end encryption for text chatting, audio calls and multimedia messages and the feature will be called “Private conversation”. This private conversation is a more secure conversation with your friends and family and all thanks to the end to end encryption. The update also includes Bluetooth connection improvements which users were facing issues previously. The version is not public yet and is created for the testing purpose for now. Microsoft is expecting users to provide feedback so that developers can fix the bugs before the stable release.

How it works

Skype is one of the biggest chatting platforms and company realized that there should be a very high level of security during the conversation. Skype will use open-source signal Protocol also known as the text-secure protocol to execute this end to end encryption. “Signal protocol is the cryptographic protocol that is used to provide end to end encryption such as in WhatsApp and Facebook messenger”. With this encryption method only, the device which is sending the audio or text and the device which is receiving the same will be able to view or hear the messages. Not even the servers they are using will have access to the content of the messages. This will lead to a totally private conversation over Skype.

To test the private messaging, you don’t have to do much. You need to sign up for skype insider program and install skype preview, log in with your credentials and you are all set to test the feature. Click on the “+” icon and select “New Private conversation”. Select the person you want to have a conversation with and send the invitation. This invitation will last only for seven days and is also device specific. So, if you want to have a conversation with two other devices you need to send two separate requests. After your conversation is over you can “end private conversation” from chat head to finish.

This isn’t something new for the users as the feature is already available in other chatting platforms, however, Microsoft being one of the biggest company realized the need for providing high-level security and privacy to its users. It is very much clear that Microsoft always thinks of its users.